The da Fontes now call AUSTRALIA home

GRACE da Fonte

Grace was born c.1836
in Weymouth, Dorsetshire.
She and her mother
Hannah Watts left
Weymouth Dorset England,
and arrived in Melbourne
on board
the ship "HANOVER"
on Sept. 13th 1853.

Grace's brothers
John and Richard
remained in England.

This portrait was done in pastels and is remarkably well preserved considering it's age (c.1860-70).

Manoel da Fonte

Manoel says
he was born
on Pico Island, part of the Portuguese Azores,
800 miles
west of Portugal.

References:
Marriage Certificate
dated 1858,
and his
Naturalisation Papers
Page One
and Page Two
(1865-66).

This portrait is from his Memoriam Card c.1898.

Manoel was a seaman and then a cooper.

We understand he fell from the mast during the voyage, injuring his leg, so he became a cooper
(he made casks to hold whale fat and oil).

He arrived in Melbourne
on Dec. 15th 1853
on board "LEILA" (a whaling ship).
The crew deserted the ship for the goldfields.

It seems he first went to Bat Creek-Talbot,
from there to Amphitheatre
and then to Adelaide Lead.
It is likely that between 1853 and 1858
he searched for gold. We have been unable
to discover if he was succesful.

Click this map of 'Midnight Lead', Inkerman, near Maryborough to see a larger image.

One family story says Manoel lived on the border of Spain and Portugal, with his parents and several brothers
whom he kept in touch with when he came to Australia.
Another story says his father owned or worked vinyards, possibly on Pico Island.
His Marriage Certificate says his mother was Mary Francisca Prade (possibly from France)
and that he was born at Fiosloe, but we cannot find such a town on the island of Pico.

Sometime in 1857-58 Manoel met Grace Watts who came out to Australia with her mother.
Whilst a family story says they married in Fitzroy Melbourne, official records say that Grace Watts was 21 years
when she married Manoel (31) on March 14th, 1858
at the Wesleyan Church, White Hills, a settlement near Maryborough, Victoria.

They probably realised there was more money to be made selling supplies than by digging for gold,
and took up land at 'Midnight Lead' at Inkerman, where they had a general store.
Family stories include the following: They originally lived in tents - with pine floors and carpets.

Their children: Mary Hannah (1859), Manoel Robert (1867), Vivian(1877), Emmanuel (1869), John (1871),
Grace (1872), Joaquim Richard Francisco (1874), Albert (1875), Mathew Alexander (1878), Claude Melville (1880)
Grace da Fonte (nee Watts) was 44 when she had her last child Claude in 1880.

To learn about these children CLICK HERE

Grace died on June 17th, 1888 aged 52 at 'Green Arbour' Wareek,
leaving Manoel to tend his children, with the help of his eldest daughter Mary Hannah.
However Mary Hannah already had four children aged under six, plus a new born babe
(Ruth Hannah born just two months before her grandmother Grace died on June 17th, 1888).
He met Ellen Forbes who arrived in Melbourne in 1886, from Leslie, Fyfe, Scotland.
He invited her to help him look after the children.
Ellen insisted on 'marriage' in 1892 and was known as 'Mater'. She died in 1936 in Maryborough, Victoria.
Manoel died on July 2nd, 1898 aged 71 at 'Green Arbour' Wareek.
To see how much the community of Maryborough respected this family,
we invite you to read THEIR OBITUARIES

INKERMAN *SHIRE OF TALLAR0OK First Rates recorded May 5th, 1866.

RATE YEAR	INFORMATION at Shire of Tallarook	FROM
1866	Store, land and House at Inkerman	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1867	Store and land at Inkerman 60 Acres of land at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1868	Store and land at Inkerman 60 acres of land at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1869	118 acres of land and house at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1870	W/ Iron cottage at Inkerman 120 acres of land and house at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1871	W/Iron Cottage at Inkerman 120 acres of land and house at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1872	W/Iron Cottage at Inkerman 120 acres of land and house at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.
1873	120 acres of land and house at Wareek	Owner - Defont, M.A.

From 1873, no more mention of rate payment at Inkerman

Their children born at Inkerman: Mary Hannah (1859), Manoel Robert (1867), Vivian(1877), Emmanuel (1869),

Their children born at Wareek: John (1871), Grace (1872), Joaquim Richard Francisco (1874),
Albert (1875), Mathew Alexander (1878), Claude Melville (1880)

To learn about these children CLICK HERE